Speaking Activities

One is that, far from becoming a silent partner, the teacher should always be speaking to someone, with others listening, and it is of the utmost importance that the students have a role

Speaking Activities for the Classroom

Copyright 2004

Compiled by David Holmes

Contents

Preface :

To The Teacher

Chapter One : Warm-up Activities

Chapter Two : Words, Phrases and Sentences

Chapter Three : Grammar and Speaking

Chapter Four : Interactive Role-Play

Chapter Five : Traveling and Touring

Chapter Six : Finding the Right Words

Chapter Seven : Fables, Tales and Stories

Chapter Eight : Talking Tasks

Chapter Nine : A Bit of Business

Chapter Ten : Pronunciation

Chapter Eleven : How to Improve Your Diction

Chapter Twelve : Sound and Rhythm

Chapter Thirteen : More Pronunciation Practice

Chapter Fourteen : Curriculum Development

The speaking activities in this text come from a variety of sources:

A lot of the tasks sprang from my own imagination, stimulating me to

go into the classroom, feeling motivated by the freshness that accompanies a new inspiration and being eager to share it with my students This could be compared to cooking on impulse rather than following a set recipe I got many additional ideas from talking to fellow-teachers about what worked for them in their classes I even picked up some good examples from the handouts of various courses that I was required to teach, all of which taught me a lot of time-proven tricks that almost always work

Curiously, when I told my Chula students that I was compiling a collection of speaking tasks for publication, they responded by getting involved and suggesting ideas of their own I would often divide the class into groups of five students and tell them to make up a dramatic scene or dialogue or game, or whatever else they wanted to try, and come back and perform it in the next class Many of these activities were effective learning tools and have been included in the book

For many years, I also facilitated English programs for Arthur Andersen, SGV Na Thalang, KPMG, Yontrakit Group, Amari Group, and Bank of Ayuddya, TOT, DEP and TAT, and other organizations, in Thailand, for which I had to keep creating new materials, so that it has become second nature for me develop speaking activities for the classroom

One final thing that I would like to add is that, at KMUTT, I learned a great deal about student-centered, self-access, task-based learning, and curriculum development, working with Richard Watson Todd of the Faculty of Applied Linguistics, so it follows that much of what you see

in this book also illustrates the Theory and Practice of Curriculum Development as it was being created at that time in the International Program at KMUTT

David Holmes Bangkok, 2003

Ironically, however, institutions can end up serving the purposes of those who run them so an imbalance is created that downplays the rights of those to be served Teachers should always remember this and try to look at their classes from the student’s point of view In short, we need to do what the students need and not make them do what we need Unfortunately, until the end of the twentieth century, classrooms in Thailand, and elsewhere throughout the world, were teacher- dominated and teacher-centered This is changing now, which is why the title of my talk at the conference was, “Good Morning Class, Welcome

to the Twenty-first Century.”

Let’s look at what students of English as a foreign language need First of all, they need to develop the four basic skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, but they also need to practice in such skills in a way that makes them :

• Think independently

• Be creative

• Follow their inspiration and interest

• Learn what they want to know

• Learn how to find information

• Learn to do their own research

• Learn to report their findings

• Learn to present their ideas to others

• Learn to communicate conclusions

• Learn to take pride in their achievements

• Learn to develop personal responsibility

• And how to continue to develop said skills,

in a way that will make them successful in their careers and lives “Learn” is something the student does for him/herself, while “Teach” is something the teacher does to the students Nowadays in this age of progress the teacher has

to come down from his pedestal at the front of the room to interact with the individuals in the class, “on the level” to use and English idiom What should happen, then, is that they become partners in progress, and the students should show greater willingness to participate if they feel it is their class rather than the teacher’s The teacher should not have sole-ownership of the class Instead, it should be a joint-venture in which the teacher helps the students in a constructive way to learn what they feel they need

This is certainly better than the old way of :

• Memorizing lists of facts

• Making ticks on multiple Choice sheets

• Following orders like cadets

• Showing no independence and

• No ability to think for themselves

• No ability to share in decision-making and

• No experience in sharing responsibility

Instead of looking down on your students from a position of authority, you should look at your students as the hope of the future The new generation does not want to become a bunch of little robots, that are trained to follow orders and just do as they are told They will obviously want to participate in the process life and social change in a constructive way

Before that can happen, teachers must change from being bureaucratic dictators to becoming benevolent helpers The problem is that this will take courage I don’t know how many times I have been told :

• Follow the course syllabus exactly

• Do only exercises in the prescribed text

• Follow orders with no exception

• Don’t change anything

• Don’t do anything different

• Don’t try to be creative

• Don’t think for yourself

• Don’t do anything based on your own experience

• Follow the department traditions

• Follow bureaucratic procedures

• Don’t break the rules

• Don’t deviate from the norm

• Do things the way that we’ve been doing them for the last forty years

• Remember that we are a highly respected institution and that we are expected to adhere to traditional standards

What are teachers to do against being ordered about, in this way, like a bunch

of pre-programmed automatons, within an out-dated system? The answer is to create a Task-Based Curriculum The answer is to throw out the rulebook and start over We should sit down in our departments and hammer out a new, task-based curriculum more-suited to the needs of present day society, based

on activities that encourage independent development

The cornerstones of student-centered learning are as follows :

• Task-based learning means helping the students choose a job that they want to do and then let them go out and do it, individually, on their own

or within peer-learning a group

• Student-centered learning means allowing the students the freedom to work on topics of their own choosing, within reasonable guidelines, in accordance with the body of knowledge

• Self-access learning means letting the students go out and find their own information on their topics from anywhere they can, such as the Internet, books, journals, magazines, newspapers, interviews, and etc

• Group Activities means allowing the students to form groups of four or five in which they will share the responsibility of getting-the-job-done and of doing the planning, preparation and presentation of their accumulated information as a team, each with an assigned task to fulfill,

so they can learn from working with others and from the constructive comments the teacher makes in helping them through the steps of the process

In such a process, the teacher is seldom at the front of the room, but usually mingling with the students, going from group to group, answering questions and encouraging progress as he/she goes This way, the teacher has a better opportunity of talking with each individual student about his/her part of the job/task and the student benefits from talking with a native speaker in an informal, up-close manner while getting guidance along the way

The sad thing about our conference on curriculum development at KMUTT was that, although teacher-participants from all over the country were enthusiastic about having been shown new ways of helping students help them selves, they said they would be going back to their jobs in schools where the syllabus was still set in cement, and that they were helpless to do anything to change it What are we to do about this? The answer is, “Don’t just survive Dare to be alive!”

Teachers are often a very complicated lot to deal with because they can seldom agree on anything There will always be those who resist any kind of change because they already feel comfortable with the way things are, and there will always be those who take a conservative stance and want to go back to the old way of doing things where they feel in control What will probably have to happen is that as the old generation goes into retirement, the new generation of teachers will find it easier to catch up with educators in the rest of the world which, especially through the Internet, is becoming a global village

A frequently asked question is, “Does curriculum reform mean that the teacher withdraws into the background and let’s the students do whatever they want? The answer is, “No, in both cases.” In the first instance, the teacher is approaching closer to the students rather than losing contact, and in the second instance, once the students have focused on a task to do, they will have a lot of questions about how to do it This means that the students will have a motive

to approach the teacher and ask for assistance Self-access teaching is not a walk in the park On the contrary it keeps everyone busy all of the time, especially the teacher who will find that, instead of giving the same old lecture over and over, he will be facing a new challenge every few minutes

In conclusion, I would like to add three final points One is that, far from becoming a silent partner, the teacher should always be speaking to someone, with others listening, and it is of the utmost importance that the students have

a role model to follow to help them speak and pronounce words, phrases and sentences in English The first place to start learning a language is to hear it spoken, preferably in an up-close context by a native speaker The next thing I want to emphasize is that the task sheets in this book are designed as speaking activities for the classroom so somebody or everybody should be speaking at all times The final point is that, especially in the pronunciation exercises at the end of the book, it is very important for the students to hear the teacher pronounce the examples in the text so that they can repeat what they hear, individually or in groups, in order to get the sounds right and develop a better accent and sound more like a native speaker

Chapter One : Warm-up Activities

This first chapter starts with some lower intermediate classroom activities that can help the teacher and the students to get to know one-another, in an easy and relaxed atmosphere

There are two types of tasks proceeding in series on alternate pages :

The first type is based on having the students interviewing one-another and asking questions, so that there is an independent dialogue between class members, with a minimum of interruption and supervision by the teacher

The second type is based on easy games and speaking tasks that should not be seen as threatening to the students and that should help to ease them into talking in programmed, student-centered exercises

In the first type of task, after some initial introductions, all the students will be asked to stand up and walk around the room, in an open, empty space, pushing their chairs to the side, where necessary, and speaking and getting information from as many different people in the room as possible They may also ask the teacher to answer any of the questions that they find on their handout sheets The main strategy of these interview tasks is to have the students find answers

to the various questions, using the various verb tenses, without consciously realizing that they are also practicing grammar The teacher should, however, not just give them the sheets and let stand up and start talking, because they would certainly use the wrong grammar and verb forms Therefore, in the first stage of this exercise, the students should be asked to formulate and jot down each one of their questions, so they can read them out to the teacher who can check to see if the verb forms are correct In other words, only after they have got the questions straight, is it time to have them stand up and walk and talk

The second type of task consists of a series of tried, true and tested fun activities, playing easy games that will almost certainly work for both the teacher and the students on this level There is enough variety so that the teacher can pick and choose which sheets he/she thinks are most appropriate for the group, depending on interest, skills and ability The teacher may find that this chapter is too easy and search further into the book to find more appropriate materials In general, the tasks gradually become more difficult, the text proceeds, chapter by chapter, from lower intermediate to intermediate and then to upper intermediate and, finally to advanced levels that will really help to improve students’ comprehension and pronunciation skills

Introductions

Since this is a speaking class the teacher should begin by telling his students something about him or herself, for example, the teacher’s name, his/her place

of birth, qualifications and experience, what he/she as teacher expects students

to do and to get from the class, followed by some guidelines on how student performance will be evaluated

Often, classes may begin with everyone standing up and introducing him/herself This is a bit abrupt, however, and the activity below works better :

Getting to Know You Interview

Start with an activity to introduce the people in the class to each other as a warm-up task Put the students in pairs, in two rows of chairs opposite one another, and have them interview each other in English, taking-down notes, following the guideline below When the interviewing is finished, each student stands up and introduces his/her partner to the class in no more than two to three minutes When the first pair have finished, go to the next pair and so on

I would like to introduce you to my friend whose nickname is ”

What makes this person unique?

As SDS are speaking, the teacher should keep correcting their grammar For

example, “He was born on the tenth of April in Bangkok.” Or “She graduated from Chula with a degree in English.” The mistakes will be almost all the same,

so by the time the students near the end of the activity, these mistakes will be repeated less frequently

Twenty Questions for the Teacher

If there are twenty students in the class, get them to put their chairs in a circle Then, ask each student to take a sheet of A4 paper and write the numbers from 1-20 down the left-hand margin and write a list of 20 questions to ask the teacher.Next to the number one (1) each student must write one question as illustrated below When the student has written the first question, he/she passes the sheet to the person on the right, who in turn writes a different question after the number (2) two, and so on all around the circle, until every student has written 20 different questions For example,

1 What is your name?

2 Where do you come from?

3 Do you like football?

First, the students will ask a question, then, the teacher will answer it If there

is any grammar mistake in the question, the teacher can correct it, repeating the question correctly and answering in clear and simple language that everyone can understand

Remembering Introductions

Another way for a group to get acquainted and have a good laugh at the same time is to put about fourteen students in a circle and have them speak in the following pattern, each one remembering and repeating what was said before and then adding his/her own new information

The first one says,

“Hello, my name is Pom

My major is English and my minor is French.”

The second one says,

“Hello, this is Pom

Her major is English and her minor is French

My name is Da

My major is Drama and my minor is English.”

The third one says,

“Hello, this is Pom

Her major is English and her minor is French,

and this is Da

Her major is Drama and her minor is English,

and my name is Pen

My major is English and my minor is Spanish.”

And so on and so on until they have gone around the full circle

With no one forgetting and no one becoming confused

Or if they do forget and get confused, just stop at that place in the circle and start over again, beginning with the next person and continuing in the same way until they have gone all the way around the group

Then, when the above task has been completed successfully, you might mix up the seating plan by getting everyone to change chairs and then continue speaking the round of introductions until it is again fully completed

Another alternative to this game is to change the wording, as for example in

“Hello, my name is Archibald Mellors

I am the Trade Representative at the British Embassy.” Or “Hello, my name is Dale Wallace I am an Accounting Manager at Price Waterhouse Coopers.” This looks a little hard but the students can do it

Find Someone Who

Every student takes a copy of this sheet and stands up and walks around the room, asking the other students about the information below, asking and answering only in English and using only full sentences For example,

Find someone who has been to Chicago

Question: “Kai, have you been to Chicago?”

Answer: “Yes, I have been to Chicago.”

Or “Nobody has been to Chicago.”

Then, write down, “Kai has been to Chicago.”

Find someone who

Doesn’t like rock music

Doesn’t smoke

Never drinks alcohol

Never tells a lie

Doesn’t eat beef

Has never been to Ranong

Doesn’t have a TV

Can do Thai dancing

Cannot cook

Can drive a motorcycle

Can understand Chinese

Wants to learn Japanese

Can program a computer

Likes computer games

Can use Microsoft Word

Has a bank account

Never takes a taxi

Usually takes the bus

Doesn’t live at home

Gets up at 4:30 a.m

When everyone has finished asking questions and has written down the names

of which students have done what, then, the teacher can put the students in a circle and ask them questions one-by-one and correct their grammar mistakes

as they speak Sometimes, the teacher can help with the answers, for example: “Everyone

can use Microsoft Word.” “There is no one who can program a computer.” “Nobody lives at home They all live in the dormitory.” Get SDS to write the questions and then check their grammar before they actually stand up to do the task

Ball Game

This game came from the girls at Chula It seems a bit simple at first, but it’s not as easy as it appears First, you need a ball that can be bounced off the floor from one student over to another A big ball is better than a small one Then, you need about twelve to fifteen students standing in a circle with enough space so one person can bounce the ball off the floor across to another student

The first student holds the ball and asks a question like

“How old is your boyfriend?”

As the first girl is asking the question, she bounces the ball on the floor over to

a friend who in turn must answer the question before touching the ball to catch

it Otherwise, if the friend hesitates for too long, or is too slow and hasn’t finished answering before she touches/catches the ball, then she is disqualified and must leave the circle and sit down

Then, next girl on her right takes the ball, and asks yet another question while bouncing it to yet another girl, who in turn must answer before her hands touch the ball, and so on and so on, until there is only one girl/person left standing

Some sample questions might be

What’s your mother’s age?

How many children are there in your family?

What is your favorite sport?

What is your favorite color?

Movie?

Song ? Actor?

What is your favorite gemstone?

What Sport do you play best?

How tall are you?

How much do you weigh?

What kind of movies do you like?

Music?

Car?

Fast food What is the capitol of USA?

Find Someone Who

It’s amazing how these “someone who” tasks make students feel so

unselfconscious and spontaneous that, while they are interacting in the lager group, they almost forget that the teacher is in the room Sooner or later, when things start to go quiet this means they are finished asking one another the

questions That’s when the teacher says, “O.K let us put our chairs in a circle now

and let me ask you what you have learned from your survey.” Subsequent survey tasks

will use the past or past perfect or the continuous tense, so there is some grammatical progression in this series of tasks Teachers can make up forms that will be appropriate for their groups

Here’s another model to follow as an example by asking questions such as:

Who was a beautiful baby? “Were you a beautiful baby?”

Who was the oldest child? Were you the oldest child in your family?

Was the youngest child?

Was an only child?

Was born in Bangkok?

Was always in trouble?

Was a very quiet child?

Was a fat baby?

Was a very thin girl?

Was a very noisy boy?

Was a very clever student?

Was a slow learner?

Was a generous sister?

Was never scolded by her mother? Were you ever scolded by your mother? Was a naughty child? Were you a naughty child?

Was an ugly child? Were you an ugly child?

Was born into a large family?

Was always a good singer?

Was good at Thai dancing?

Was a good football player in school?

Was a poor swimmer in school?

Remember that asking the question using correct grammar is important when doing these exercises: Question : “Were you the oldest child?” Answer : “No, I was not the oldest child.” “Who was the oldest child in the family?” “Nid was the oldest child in the family.” The teacher should always allow students time

to prepare the questions before everyone stands up to perform the group activity

Simon Says

This is a game that children like to play, but it’s an effective language learning exercise because it is based on speaking and listening and carrying out actions based on simple sentences

The rules are simple, all the students stand in a big circle, and there is a leader who gives commands like

Simon says, “Close your eyes.”

Simon says, “Put your fingers in your ears.”

Simon says, “Hold your nose.”

If the command begins with the words, “Simon says,” all persons in the class/group must follow the order Anyone who does not follow the order is disqualified and must drop out of the game

What makes the game more tricky and funny is that, if there is a command that does not begin with “Simon says,” the listeners should not perform the action Anyone who does perform the action is disqualified and must drop out of the circle

The idea is to keep tricking a few, so they do the action without first hearing

“Simon says,” and, then, the circle keeps getting smaller and smaller until only one person is left, who will the be declared and applauded as the winner

If the leader orders, “Simon says, salute,” every one must salute, but if the next command is “OK now sit down” without the words “Simon says,” then anyone who sits down is out of the game, and so on Everyone will have a good laugh and not have to take things too seriously

While this is normally a game for 10 to 16 year-olds, it can be played in a more sophisticated way, even with adults, by making the commands more mature and demanding:

Simon says, “Tell me your mother’s maiden name.”

Simon says, “Tell us how many children you have.”

Simon says, “Please tell us what kind of car you would like to own.”

If the question is, “Would you like to win ten million in the lottery?” and the person answers, “Yes, Sure,” then he/she is out of the game for answering a question that didn’t begin with “Simon Says.”

Find Someone Who

Has three sisters How many sisters do you have?

Has been to Cambodia Have you ever been to Cambodia?

Has visited the Zoo

Has never fallen in love

Has fallen in love

Has not yet eaten today

Has stayed in a boarding school

Has never played volleyball

Has learned to play the piano

Has traveled to Hong Kong

Has tried to learn Japanese

Has lived in Switzerland

Has a 4.0 GPA

Has four brothers

Has a BMW

Has never had a passport

Has taught young children

Has worked as a babysitter

Has stayed in the hospital

Has a driver’s license

I Spy with my Little Eye

This is another one of those little children’s games that can be used as a speaking activity Here’s how it goes You get a group in a room or a lounge or

a garden, etc Then, the first speaker looks around and chooses any object or

thing that he/she can see and notices the color, such as the garden grass which is

green and then says the following :

“I spy with my little eye something that is green.”

Then the others have to guess what the speaker has in his/her mind’s eye,

which has the color of green For example, one speaker may ask,

“Is it a leaf?” but the answer will be, “No, it is not a leaf.”

Then, the next participant may say, “Is it a tree?” and the answer will be, “No,

it is not a tree.” And so on, “Is it a snake?” “Is it a frog?” until finally someone says, “Is it the grass?” and the answer ill be, “Yes, It is the grass.” And, then, the round will be finished

Next, someone else can take another turn, looking around and doing the same thing, and saying,

“I spy with my little eye something that is red,” like an apple, for example

And the others can keep guessing with questions like,

“Is it my dress?”

“Is it my shoes?”

“Is it a rose?”

“Is it my lips?”

“Is it my nail polish?”

until finally someone guesses right and says,

Find Someone Who

Is learning to drive Are you learning to drive? etc

Is saving money to buy a motorcycle

Is learning to play an instrument

Is taking tennis lessons

Is wearing a Timex watch

Is looking for a new girlfriend

Is planning to study abroad

Is never going to get married

Is working at a part time job

Is living in the dormitory

Is living at home with the family

Is renting his/her own apartment

Is hoping to get married and have a family

Is practicing meditation

Is wearing a gold necklace

Is planning to become a monk at age twenty-one

Is planning to own his/her own business someday

Is learning German as a second language

Is planning to learn Mandarin Chinese

Is playing in a rock band

Hangman

This is another children’s game that can be adapted for speaking and vocabulary Most kids know this game, which needs little introduction, but for those who may have forgotten their childhood pastimes, here’s how it works :

Take a word that everyone knows like “airplane,” and tell the SDS how many

letters are in the word = seven letters Then, you underline a space for each of

the seven letters, as for example

Then you give them a hint like,

“It’s the name of a machine in which you can travel through the air.”

Then, they guess the first letter, which in this case would be A

Then, they guess the second letter … and so on

With any luck, they will be able to fill in all the letters without making any error

The problem is that if they guess a wrong letter, then they suffer a penalty using

one stroke for each wrong answer to build their own hangman’s gallows, adding one stroke, for every wrong letter, step-by-step, to look like this

There are lots of words you can use such as

Pigeon Subway Elephant Python Pencil Crocodile Telephone, etc

The secret of success is choosing words everyone in the group should know and giving good hints so they can figure out the words Since this is the age of student-centered learning, let the students make up their own list of words

Find Someone Who

Has never had an operation Have you ever had an operation?

Has never smoked a cigarette Have you ever smoked a cigarette?

Has never been kissed

Has never learned to dance

Has never been to a nightclub

Has never been in the hospital

Has never had a boyfriend

Has never won in the lottery

Has never played badminton

Has flown in an airplane

Has never driven a car

Has never learned to swim

Has never felt jealous

Has never borrowed money

Has never had any money stolen

Has never lied to the teacher

Has never cheated on an exam

Has never visited a doctor

Has never failed a test

Has never cheated on his girlfriend

It’s in the Bag

Find a durable plastic shopping bag that’s big enough to contain about twenty suitably-sized items Then, using your imagination and creativity, put a selection

of articles, suitable for your student group, into the bag :

like a rubber snake, a water pistol, a set of false teeth tube of lipstick, perfume bottle, powder compact, comb, hairbrush, hair clip, ear ring, wedding ring, armband, chain, headband,

paper clip, ball point pen, eraser, flashlight, calculator, TV remote,

door key, mobile phone, walkman, cassette tape, CD disc, light bulb, alarm clock, battery, small, hairy stuffed animal, small satin doll,

wristwatch, eyeglasses, sea shell, chop sticks, spoon, fork knife,

orange, apple, banana, peach, pear, guava, coconut, paper cup, coffee cup, paper punch, stapler, bottle opener, bottle cap, a stick of chewing gum, toffee,

or any other item they will recognize by feel, when they close their eyes and put one hand in the bag to choose the item and describe what they feel, for

example, “It’s light in weight It’s round at the top,” so that class members can get

hints to guess what it is People will feel a little afraid of putting their hand in the bag at first, but that is part of the fun Don’t put in anything dangerous or scary, and avoid leaving perishables in the bag if it’s a prop you want to keep

The point of the game is for the student with his/her hand in the bag to begin

to describe the feeling, shape, weight, texture, material, size, or what it is used for, or when and why, etc until the students can guess the name of the item

Do not take the item out of the bag until the students have guessed what it is

An example might be as follows:

What is this?

What I can feel in my hand is a round, soft object, about the size of am orange but the material is soft and a bit fluffy on the outside, although beneath that there is a harder inner layer that is flexible, like some kind of rubber The object seems to be hollow on the inside so that when I press the surface in with my thumb, it flexes back into the original shape It feels like a kind of ball that I could throw at the wall and it would bounce In fact, I think it is a kind of ball that is used in a famous sport and is used to hit back and forth over a net with

a racquet which is held in the hand of the players

It’s a Tennis Ball!

Find Someone Who

Speaks three languages How many languages can you speak?

Was born in December

Has three beautiful sisters

Doesn’t like dogs

Loves cats

Cannot cook

Has been abroad

Doesn’t like disco’s

Dislikes the smell of cigarettes

Watches foreign movies in English

Eats too much chocolate

Would like to try bungee-jumping

Weighs less than 40 kilos

Is at least 180 cm tall

Has tried windsurfing

Wants to get married soon

Doesn’t like boys

Never eats fast food

Has been to Chiang Mai?

Lives in Din Dang

Here’s a Variation on the Getting to Know You Interview

Students can interview one another in pairs as follows :

What’s your name?

When were you born?

What’s your place of birth?

In what country were you born?

What is your nationality?

What is your gender?

What street do you live on?

What is your house number?

What is your father’s name?

What is your mother’s name?

Do you have any sisters?

Do you have any brothers?

How old is your father?

How old is your mother?

Do your grand parents live with you?

Do you have any pets in your house?

When did you start to learn English?

How many years of English have you learned?

Have you ever had a part time job?

What sports can you play?

Have you won any prizes in school?

Have you learned to play a musical instrument?

What computer skills do you have?

Do you surf the Internet?

Do you ever visit a chat room?

Have you ever downloaded music onto your computer?

What kind of music do you like?

What kind of movies do you like?

What sports do you like to watch on TV?

Do you want to get married one day?

How many children do you want to have?

What profession do you plan to enter?

Do you think you will fulfill your greatest ambitions?

What is your greatest dream in life?

Would you like to be super-rich?

What would you do if you won the lottery?

If you could have anything you wanted, what would it be?

Find Someone Who

Was boy scout Have you ever been a boy scout?

Was a girl guide Were you ever a girl guide?

Has ridden in an ambulance Have you ever ridden in an ambulance? etc

Spent six weeks in hospital Have you ever spent six weeks in the hospital? Has broken an arm or a leg Have you ever broken an arm or a leg?

Has never been in the mountains

Has never flown in an airplane

Often gives to beggars

Never gives to beggars

Hates to sing Karaoke

Never goes to a nightclub

Doesn’t dance very often

Drinks coke in the disco

Hates action movies

Loves horror movies

Seldom goes to the cinema

Likes to read books

Doesn’t like to study

Doesn’t watch much TV

Has never had a dog

Twenty Questions

Think of a word that the other students should be able to guess, if you give them a couple of hints and then allow them to ask twenty questions If they can guess the word in twenty questions, they win If they cannot, they lose

You can take words like

Lion Pineapple Gold

Or you can take a country like

Egypt China USA Let’s suppose you have chosen “Egypt” as the word they must guess

First, you must give a couple of hints such as

“It is a very old country It has a lot of history.”

The students can then ask questions to help them guess which country it is

Only yes or no answers may be given

For example,

1 “Is this country in Asia?” “No.”

2 “Is it in Europe?” “No.”

3 “Is it in the Middle East?” “No.”

4 “Is it in Africa?” “Yes.”

5 “Is it in North Africa?” “Yes.”

6 “Is there a lot of desert in this country?” “Yes.”

7 “Do they have camels?” “Yes.”

8 “Do they have many pyramids?” “Yes.”

9 “Is this country Egypt?” “Yes.”

And thus they have got the answer using only nine questions The trick to finding out the word, based on the clues given, is to start asking questions that exclude other possibilities and then keep going in the direction that your intuition leads you The clues also have to be fair to give the players a fair chance

Ask the Teacher Twenty Questions about His/Her Country

“Does it snow in your country?”

“Which months are the coldest months?”

“Which are the summer months?”

“Which is your favorite month and why?’

“What do people like to eat in your country?”

“What do people do at the weekend?”

“What time do people start work in the morning?”

“When do they finish work?”

“Is there much traffic?”

“What about pollution?”

“Are the big cities noisy?”

“Are politicians corrupt?”

“Are there prostitutes?”

“Can you trust the police?”

“Do people ask for bribes?”

“Do many people have a second house or cottage?”

“What sports are popular there?”

“Are there many mosquitoes?”

“Do people like to sunbathe?”

“Where do people go for entertainment?”

The One-Minute Game

This game has two teams of individuals who try to compete against another by having one member from one side speak for one full minute (measured by a stopwatch) talking on an impromptu topic given by the other side, for which the speaker has had no chance to prepare beforehand An example might be,

one-“What do you think about sex before marriage?”

The point of the task is to speak without any

grammar mistakes stopping or hesitation mispronunciation misuse of words being off topic

or any mistake of any kind

The members of the opposing side must listen carefully and stop and disqualify the speaker the moment there is any fault or error or hesitation, etc Then, the person who has caught the error stands up and is given a different topic that he/she has never heard before, upon which he/she than must speak for one minute absolutely free of any error Any speaker who succeeds in talking fluently for one minute scores one point for his/her side Some appropriate topics for your game might be

How can we improve the quality of life in Bangkok?

What would you do if the world would end tomorrow?

What would you do if we gave you one million dollars?

If I could change one thing about the world I would

Do you think Thailand needs Nuclear Power plants?

Swimming in the canals around Bangkok is dangerous

Everybody in the world should speak only one language

The Environment in Bangkok actually makes people sick

It would probably be more fun to create topics that are suitable to the particular groups The team that listens the most carefully for mistakes has the best chance of winning, as it is a good strategy to disqualify the opposing challengers as quickly as possible in order to gain more time for the members

of your group to get more points

Find Someone Who Is

Learning three languages Are you learning three languages?

Under eighteen years of age Are you under eighteen years of age?

A member of a student club

A member of a sports team

Working at a part-time job

Hoping to be a manager one day

Tying to lose weight

Afraid of failing an exam

Afraid of going to the dentist

Happy to be a student

Unhappy about the traffic problems

Worried about the economic future

Optimistic about his/her future

Totally pessimistic about life

Drawing a Pie Chart to Tell About Yourselves

If you have a class of about 20 students, divide them into groups of 4-5 and let them choose a topic which each group would like to ask their fellow students about, so they can write a question and then stand up and go around and survey every other person in the room on that particular question Keep it a really simple survey that can then be turned into a really simple presentation Try to ask a question where there are several possible answers, so the results can be reported in percentages Some questions would be

What is your favorite football team?

What’s the name of your favorite band?

What sport do you play most often?

What kind of drugs do young people try most?

What kind of movies do you like best?

What type of music ( rock, pop, western, etc.) do you listen to the most?

Who is your favorite female superstar?

Who is your favorite male superstar?

What kind of fast food do you like best?

What is your favorite subject in school?

What activity do you do most on the internet?

What is the most important quality in a marriage partner?

What kind of fruit do you like best?

What sort of food do you like the least?

Actually, it’s better to get the students to think up their own question because the activity should be about something that they are interested in knowing

In the circle above, make up a pie chart to display the information you have discovered in making your survey When you give your report, each person in the group must speak and present a part of the information to the class

Find Someone Who

Has studied in America Have you studied in America?

Would like to be an air hostess Would you like to be an air-hostess?

Would like to be a travel guide Would you like to be a travel guide?

Would like to be a government official

Would like to be a secretary

Would like to be a business manager

Would like to be a TV producer

Will someday run the family business

Will never marry

Will marry he childhood sweetheart

Wants to have many children

Wants to have only one child

Would like to do an MBA

Will travel to Europe

Will always live at home with his/her parents

Would like to get a Ph.D

Would never take a bribe

Will always love her mother

Would like to have plastic surgery

Would never take advantage of a lady

Get the Class to Make-up a Story

Put a group of about twenty SDS with their chairs in a circle, and start with a sentence like: “Once there was a beautiful young girl of eighteen.” Then, each successive student, going all the way around the circle to the right, must add a new sentence to keep the story going Here is a model that may serve as an example :

1 Once there was a beautiful young girl of eighteen

2 It had always been her dream to study at English at Chula

3 She did everything she could to prepare herself

4 She knew the entrance exam would be very important

5 Her family sent her to the British Council for extra lessons

6 They spared no expense when it came to her education

7 She often told her friends that she had no time for fun

8 The entrance exam was the only thing she thought of

9 She never thought about boys or falling in love

10 She never took time to listen to music or go dancing

11 She never went to the movies or watched TV

12 Half the time she even neglected to eat regular meals

13 She studied so much that she neglected to exercise

14 She was so stressed that she always had trouble sleeping at night

15 In the weeks before the entrance exam she was very nervous

16 She worried so much that her friends were concerned about her

17 Some people even thought that she might go crazy

18 Towards the end, she even began to lose weight and look a little strange

19 Eventually, however, she did extremely well on the entrance exam

20 She was filled with joy when she won a place in the Faculty of Arts at Chula

This is such a typical story that it is a little bit too boring It would be more fun

to write unique tale that was more unusual and exciting and which did not have such a conventional ending Try to create one that uses a little more imagination and in which the steps of the story are not quite so predictable :

1 There once was a pretty girl who came from a poor family

2 One day she was shopping with her mother at the market

3 She turned from her mom to look at some goldfish in a bowl

4 When she looked back her mother was no longer there

5 She looked everywhere but she couldn’t find her mom

See if you can finish this story and make her life unexpected and surprising

There was once a law student who was looking for a job after graduation

Find Someone Who

Has never been abroad Have you ever been abroad?

Has never drunk whiskey Have you ever drunk whiskey?

Has never smoked a cigarette Have you ever smoked a cigarette?

Has never been in trouble

Has never kissed her boyfriend

Has never driven a car

Has ridden on an elephant

Has never driven a motorbike

Has been to a rock concert

Has visited a disco

Has never stayed out later than midnight

Has traveled alone

Has cooked for the whole family

Has never learned to swim

Has often got an “A” in school

Has never failed a test

Hasn’t any brothers or sisters

Has written an academic essay

Has sung a song on stage

Has taken tennis lessons

Can You Guess Who I Am?

This is a game where a person pretends to be someone or something that he/she is not, and the others have to guess who he/she is impersonating First, the teacher gives one person a piece of paper with the name of a very famous personality (like Superman) on it and puts that person at the front of the room for questioning The class members are given only one hint to guide their questioning, such as for example, “This is a famous Hollywood comic strip movie figure.” Then, the other students have to start asking questions to find out who is being impersonated Only yes/no answers may be given :

1 Do you travel in outer space?

2 Do you live in a big city?

3 Do you have a family?

4 Do you like to eat spinach?

5 Do you wear a mask?

6 Do you live in an ancient castle?

7 Do you like to suck people’s blood?

8 Can you climb up the sides of buildings?

9 Are you human?

10 Do you sometimes talk to animals?

11 Can you blow fire out of your nostrils?

12 Have you lived for thousands of years?

13 Do you have horns?

14 Can you make yourself invisible?

15 Are you a child?

16 Are you the leader of a group of warriors?

17 Can you tell what other people are thinking?

18 Do you have X ray vision?

19 Can you fly?

20 Do you have a girlfriend?

21 Do you change identity?

22 Are you strong and muscular?

23 Are you very handsome?

24 Do you come from the planet Krypton?

25 Are you Superman?

Students enjoy this one, particularly if they are using personalities the group likes and admires In a variation on this game, everyone in the room knows the name of the personality except the one person at the front who, then, must keep up the questioning until he/she has discovered who the mystery person is

Find Someone Who

Ate steak last week Did you eat a steak last week?

Bought a new watch recently Did you buy a new watch recently?

Started working at a part-time job

Drove a motorbike to school

Won a scholarship in school

Gave a speech to his graduation class

Joined a club at school

Ate a bowl of noodles this morning

Went to the seaside last weekend

Had his/her calculator stolen

Has fallen asleep in class

Has broken up with her boyfriend

Has taken driving lessons

Has won a prize for athletics

Has never played in a band

Has never played on a basketball team

Has never cheated on a test

Has never borrowed money from a friend

Has walked to class every day this week

Has played computer games every day this week

ELT Spelling Bee

There are three variations of this game, each a little more and complicated, confusing and harder to accomplish than the than the one before

First, there is the conventional spelling bee in which everyone stands in a circle and everyone is given a word to spell by the teacher or class leader Anyone who spells the word wrong has to sit down, and the next one tries, and the next one until there is only one person standing who is applauded as the winner

Second, students are given words to by their leader, with everyone standing in a circle, with each student saying only one of the letters at a time, going around, one-by-one, letter-by-letter, until one student spells a wrong letter and has to sit down Every time a word is finished, a new one is introduced into the round, going round, word-by-word, letter-by-letter, until only one person is left

Third, put the students in two lines standing opposite one another, each with his/her own list of chosen words to spell out to the other The first student spells a word quickly and the student opposite must listen, hear and pronounce that word without any hesitation in order to remain standing The second student then in turn spells his/her word to the other who must say it perfectly and quickly to remain standing, and so on and so on, down the line and back again, until there is only one remaining in the upright position, who is the winner

The words should be chosen appropriate to the level of the group, but if the group is higher intermediate, perhaps some of the following words may serve

as models If these words are too hard choose easier ones from the dictionary

bureau, attorney, paralyzed, convalescent, sheriff, syringe, hallucinate, censor, mayhem, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, expectorate, apologize, acquittal, mayor, endearing, terrestrial, satellite, mural, curriculum, peculiar, chimney, separate, reprisals, inundate, prioritize, celluloid, bombastic, immemorial, predestination, ocular, juggler, residual, resin, pedantic, jurisprudence, marital, martial, anorexia, plethora, plebian, criticize, license, bigotry, vacillate, prestige, cosmic

Find Someone Who

Is learning Japanese Are you learning Japanese?

Is living in Klong Tan Are you living in Klong Tan?

Is living on the University Campus

Is living with a room mate

Is planning to buy a used car

Is planning to study English abroad

Is planning to do graduate studies

Is hoping to get a Master’s degree

Is hoping to win the lottery

Is hoping to marry a rich man

Is hoping to marry a beautiful girl

Is studying hard every day

Is taking night school classes

Is having trouble learning English

Is having difficulty finding time to study

Is spending three hours a day in traffic

Is suffering because of pollution

Is disappointed about the environment

Is hoping for a better future

Is afraid to go to the dentist

Detective

This is a game where you put three people at the front of the room, who all

claim to have had the same unusual experience Like a girl who once went into the

men’s restroom by mistake and felt quite embarrassed Only one of them has had the

true experience and the other two are imposters The true girl must report the truth The other two must make up their answers based on their imaginations This means they are lying Your job is to question the girls, as though you were detectives, to find out which two are lying and which one is the true person

Every class member asks one question, which all three girls must answer as though they had actually had the experience themselves and could tell the actual details the way they had experienced them Detectives should be able to ask clever enough questions to catch the two imposters, because they should be able to hear when suspects don’t know what to say because they were not actually at the scene to remember and report on what really happened

Some questions might be as follow :

Did you forget to look at the sign before you went through the door?

Where did it happen? What time was it?

Were you alone or was someone with you?

Did someone dare you to go into the men’s room?

Are you often a forgetful person?

Did you feel frightened? What was your first reaction?

What did you see after you entered the door?

Were there any men in there?

What were they doing?

What did they do when they saw you?

At the end of the questioning, the class must vote on who the real person is After the voting, the class leader says,

“Will the real person now step-forward.”

Often it is not the one you expect because the others are such good actors

What are some other experiences that some of you have had that might make

good topics for this game? Falling off an express passenger boat into the canal would be

an unusual experience What different sort of experience have you had that would

help to make a good subject for this quiz game? Have you ever had your gold

chain stolen at the bus stop by a thief who then jumped on the back of a motorcycle and raced away?

More Detective Work

Another way to play detective is to have two groups of five or six, who at first confer in two private circles to see who in the group is different or has done something different from the other members of the class Each student tells the others in his/her group something about him/herself that is unusual and which the others in the other group cannot know about For example, if you ask an individual, maybe he/she will answer that he/she

ate ten plates of noodles at one sitting

fell in the water and almost drowned

was born in Boston in the US

learned how to ice skate at the World Trade Center

worked at Burger King

studied a year in New Zealand

Pick one topic from the first group, learning to ice skate, for example, and, then

pretend that everyone in the group has learned to ice skate Sitting in rows of chairs, facing opposite one another, allow the second group to play detective and interrogate the individuals in the first group one by one as suspects, trying

to catch each suspect in a lie, so the detectives can eliminate some suspects and come closer to finding the identity of the true ice skater:

How did you learn to skate?

Where did you skate for the first time?

What brand of ice skate do you have?

Who sharpens your skates?

What days and times is the WTC open for skating?

How much do you pay to skate?

How much did you pay for your skates?

Do you often fall down?

What happens if you injure yourself?

What is the temperature in the ice-skating rink?

What kind of clothing do you wear when you go ice-skating?

Someone who has never ice-skated will be unable to answer certain questions

or will hesitate so long that the questioners will see he/she is lying Whereas, if the detectives are observant, they will be able to see who answered most confidently so they can make a calculated guess about the identity of the real ice-skater When this is finished, suspects switch roles with detectives and they

become the interrogators to try to catch the other group in another set of lies

Find Someone Who

Wants to study Arabic Do you want to study Arabic?

Has learned English for fifteen years Have you been learning English long?

Is going to have a birthday soon Are you going to have a birthday soon?

Will soon move into a new house

Is living in Bang Mod

Is going to get married soon

Will not go directly home after class

Has always lived in Bangkok

Can speak Chinese with his/her grandmother

Doesn’t like to play badminton

Always goes directly home after school

Would like to own a Mercedes Benz

Would never go alone into a disco

Will travel abroad during the holidays

Still lives at home with his/her parents

Has never been in a subway train

Takes the Sky Train every day

Does not own a computer

Has never traveled outside of Thailand

Would like to start his/her own business